Commentator Tim Montgomerie quits Reform following suspension

Conservative Party defector and political commentator Tim Montgomerie has told the BBC he has resigned from Reform UK, urging Nigel Farage to "get a grip" of the party.

Montgomerie defected from the Tories 18 months ago but was suspended from Reform UK last month after he criticised senior figures.

His decision to resign came after a conversation with Reform's party chair Lee Anderson on Tuesday. "I think they wanted me back in the party but meekly," he told the BBC. "And I wasn't prepared to do that."

Montgomerie said he still plans to support Reform and has no intention of re-joining the Conservatives.

"I want to still be a supporter, but that requires them being more like Reform and less like the AfD [Germany's right-wing Alternative for Deutschland]", he said.

The far-right AfD won a decisive victory in Germany's eastern state of Saxony-Anhal this weekend, in what commentators said was a watershed moment as no far-right party has controlled a German state since World War Two.

Among the AfD's policies is a highly controversial plan for "remigration", which is widely understood to mean mass deportations of migrants.

In the wake of controversial demonstrations against migrants in Dover and Portsmouth linked to Tommy Robinson this week, Montgomerie suggested Nigel Farage needs to go further in asserting his authority and professionalising the party.